Communications Technology
Making printed circuit boards without the proper equipment
We were assigned a project needing minature traffic lights. We obtained
one sided printed circuit board, some steel wool, and some ferric chloride
etchant. After polishing the board we covered it with "gaffer's tape."
Later we learned that Avery labels work better, and run through a Xerox
machine too! We stuck our circuit outline on the board with Elmer's glue.
We cut out the unwanted portions of the board with an X-Acto knife, and
peeled away the tape. This left us with a tape resist. We dropped the board
into the etchant and later cleaned up the board and drilled the 26 circuit
holes. Mounting the components and soldering them was a snap.
polishing the board
After polishing the board we covered it with "gaffer's tape."
We stuck our circuit outline on the board with Elmer's glue.
We cut out the unwanted portions of the board with an X-Acto
knife
and peeled away the tape.
This left us with a tape resist.
We dropped the board into the etchant
If this seems like a lot of primitive extra effort it
was. The problem was that the proper photographic materials did not come
in time, and we had to move on. The process took longer than it should
have but we were still finished before the new materials arrived.